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Edit: Having reviewed them again, I suppose one or two of the Winter banners could be considered as Christmas-oriented; so the answer is yes, if I can find a suitably large set.

That's right, I guess it was actually winter. If it's possible to use them, it'd be an exciting change for the holiday season. Thanks for looking into it ^_^

Night theme... that may get me depressed online as well as when winter hits Alaska up here... Dark almost 24 hours here during the winter, then dark when I come to AnimeSuki? NooooooooooOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo!

In reality, I really like that idea. I was wondering why I never saw any of the old night banners from some past competitions getting used since I thought some of them were very nice.

My only reservation with doing a Night theme is when considering the longevity of the it: will we still feel the theme is appropriate when Summer comes around? Since the banner contests are infrequent there's no telling when we'll have another. If we did have Night themed banners they would likely be around for a long time.

I'd really like to see a range of theme ideas rather than everyone hopping on just one. Night is cool, so what else would be cool? Perhaps there might be another idea that would be cooler? That can only come from brainstorming.

The biggest problem with a Night theme is the background. Aside from fine-tuning the rules and having the time to actually run it, not being able to feel satisfied with the selection of time of day gradients helped stop the last contest in its tracks. Night being the trickiest of the bunch; too dark and it looked unbalanced against the forum's theme (which we don't have the resources/motivation to redesign) while many shades that are light enough just looked awful.

Brainstorming Random ThemesCan't promise any of these are remotely plausible, but listing random things alphabetically might spark some creativity~

I agree with Daniel that a magical/fantasy-like theme seems fun as well. What comes to mind are very colorful images with the 'occasional' use of C4D

Serenity seems like it would be a hard theme to convey, I'm sure there would be lots of posts from confused entrants trying to convince you that their idea of serenity is the 'right one.' The Kairin theme too...mmm... I like her, don't get me wrong, but I don't know if I'd like seeing her constantly at the top. Even among my favorite characters, I don't always want them displayed, it's nice to see a variety of different characters.

For those curious about two of the options on the list NightWish posted:

Quote:

Xiphoid process: A pointed cartilage attached to the lower end of the breastbone or sternum, the smallest and lowest division of the sternum. Cartilaginous early in life, it may become ossified (bony) in adults. It is sometimes simply called the xiphoid. Also known as the ensiform cartilage or process.

The ancients thought the xiphoid looked like the tip of a sword. The word "xiphoid" is from the Greek "xiphos" (straight sword) + "eidos" (like) = straight sword. "Ensiform" is from the Latin "ensis" (sword) + "forma" (shape) = sword shape.

1. Any of various annuals of the genus Amaranthus having dense green or reddish clusters of tiny flowers and including several weeds, ornamentals, and food plants. Also called pigweed.
2. An imaginary flower that never fades.
3. A deep reddish purple to dark or grayish, purplish red.
4. A dark red to purple azo dye.

Im cool with Night but looking at Nightwish's list I kinda like Lyrics as well since then you could build on just about anything. Friendship is cute too. Oh my if we did Gothic I have a ton of Godchild pics!

Night theme is a good idea but I would prefer space even though it might be similar it could have more color variation. And if we are going to pick a certain setting something like dawn and underwater wouldn't be bad either imo... or we could always go with boxes .

Brainstorming Random ThemesCan't promise any of these are remotely plausible, but listing random things alphabetically might spark some creativity~

Amaranthine

Boxes

Change

Dance

Endurance

Friendship

Gothic

Hairstyle

Idol

Jude

Kairin

Lyrics

Moon

Networks

Okinawa

Pretty

Quest

Royalty

Speed

Transformation

Unquiet

Verdant

Wings

Xiphoid

Yokai

Zori

Some of them are really very specific. They seem to just push you into a corner, like saying "we want it square" or "we want it round" (or it has to have this and that). How about using something more generic and open to interpretation: sanctuary, open space, love, majin, holy, group, darkness, food, community and so on.

How about reusing all the previous SotM themes? but limit each participator to only use one theme per submission, so if he intend to have 3 submissions, he needs 3 themes.

Do you want to open your SotM psd, make it banner size then submit it as your entry? It's unfair, not to mention that the themes in the SotM contest are by themselves very rigid and obviously conceived to be tricky (Ecchi, Female Combatants, Dresscode: Female: Elegant/Ceremonial, Despair/Sorrow, NonHuman, Seasons, Super Deformed, Pairs!, Music Related Objects!, Military); I think it's preferred we have a lot of good looking banners rather then voting for the best attempt.

I also just realized that Animesuki's birthday is right around the corner; Though, I am not really sure if a theme can be pulled out of that.

EDIT:

The theme "seasons" was also suggested in the past, right?

It could be something like this:

-Increasing the number of entries to 4 (one per season- with winter being done anew)
-During the nomination and voting phase, let people pick their favorites for every season.
-Have a winner for every season and use each set of banners as the year moves along.

This way, most (if not all) banners submited get a chance to be at the top.

EDIT 2:

Ok, I already spotted a problem with this idea. >_<

I can't really tell if people would actually want to create a 4 season set. If the number of entries is optional, folks could decide to do one or two instead, wich would lead to some seasons having more entries than others.

Forcing the number of entries to 4 could actually scare members with little time on their hands. >_<!